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Counseling and Instructional Sciences Research

Dr. Burke Johnson

Dr. Burke Johnson’s work in the area of mixed methods research is receiving considerable
attention nationally and internationally. Dr. Johnson is a Professor in the Department
of Professional Studies and an expert on research methods particularly mixed methods
research and program evaluation. He recently helped start a new international organization
– Mixed Methods International Research Association of which he serves currently as
Executive Director. Dr. Johnson received the College of Education 2013 Award for Excellence
in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity, and was recognized as a Distinguished
Mentor by the American Educational Research Association in 2013. During the last year
Dr. Johnson has also conducted several invited and international presentations on
his work. These include:

Invited mixed methods research mini-course teacher for the National Graduate School
of Educational Research, University of Oslo, March 19-20, 2013.

One of Dr. Johnson’s most frequent collaborators is Dr. Tony Onwuegbuzie from Sam
Houston State University. Their collaborations have lead to a series of high impact
journal articles, which are highlighted below:

Most cited article of all time from this journal (477 citations) Care, which is a
systemic intervention intended to improve an agency’s ability to work with and provide
a therapeutic environment for youth who have experienced abuse and trauma. This work
has been spearheaded by Erynne Shatto a member of the MJCC team and a doctoral student
in the Clinical & Counseling Psychology Ph.D. program at USA. Her work will be used
to produce a dissertation focused on organizational factors that predict willingness
to adopt evidence-based practices in general and trauma informed care practices in
particular.

Dr. Ryon McDermott

Dr. Ryon McDermott has won the "Researcher of the Year Award" from the Division on
Men and Masculinity of the American Psychological Association (http://division51.net/). The award recognizes the publishing of outstanding research concerning males and
masculinity.

During the past 6 years Dr. McDermott has published 36 peer-reviewed journal articles
and book chapters on the following topics: men's help-seeking behaviors, self-stigma
in men, male attitudes towards college sexual assault, and the negative effects of
gender role strain and stress upon men's health and relationships.

One of Dr. McDermott's research programs examines the intersections of cultural variables
(e.g. race, gender, sexual orientation) and individual psychological differences (e.g.
adult attachment, personality factors, self-esteem) to understand and address real-world
problems. Currently, Dr. McDermott and his research team are focused on three interrelated
problems impacting most college campuses: academic retention, sexual assault, and
delivery of mental health services to underrepresented groups. Upcoming publications
from the research team include an investigation of college students’ adult attachment
in relation to their trait hope and academic/psychological well-being, a meta-analytic
review of masculinity and college sexual assault perpetration, an examination of the
socio-cultural predictors of Asian men's body image concerns, and a study of college
students’ help-seeking behaviors in relation to adult attachment, levels of psychological
distress, and self-stigma of seeking psychological help. In addition, the research
team has just submitted IRB paperwork to begin developing a measure of prosocial masculinity.
Research team members include Daniel McKelvey, Matthew Kridel, Paige Naylor, Lacy Kantra, and Zacharay Jones from the Combined Clinical
and Counseling Psychology doctoral program.

Dr. McDermott is collaborating with Dr. Nicole Carr, Director of Student Academic Success, to address cultural and psychological factors related to academic retention. Specifically,
Dr. McDermott revised the First-Year Experience Survey (FYES) to include social, cultural,
and psychological factors related to academic retention in addition to the established
college and academic predictors. The new FYES has also been broken into two administrations
so that data can be examined over time. This process will help determine which variables
in the beginning of the semester predict academic retention at the end of the semester
and will provide a more complete picture of college students’ experiences. Dr. McDermott
plans to fine tune the survey to develop targeted interventions for the first-year
experience classes in the future. Dr. McDermott is also collaborating with Dr. Krista
Harrell (Associate Dean of Students and Title IX Coordinator) and Dr. Sarah Koon-Magnin
(Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science & Criminal Justice) to examine
factors related to college student sexual assault perpetration and victimization by
developing a college-wide survey of dating attitudes and behaviors.

McDermott, R., Kilmartin, C., McKelvey, D., Kridel, M. (2015). Rejoinder: Toward Advancing
Research on College Male Sexual Assault of Women and the Psychology of Men. Psychology
of men and masculinity.